Serenity
by MadGirl-SpaceGirl-StarGirl
Summary: Things are not going well for The Shield. They're fracturing, the authority no longer seems to support them and then to top it all off Dean's boss "surprises" him with a blast from his past. The woman he half hoped he would never see again stumbles back into his life with plenty of her own demons. With the world around them imploding will it bring them closer or ruin them both?
1. Sup Jonny

"Shit"

Dean Ambrose blinked up at the lights in the ceiling as his vision swam. The last thing that was clear in his mind was receiving a Sister Abigail from Bray Wyatt, onto the solid concrete floor and then being shoved head first into the rough brick wall.

The match.

He had to get back to the match, he would not, could not be the reason that the Shield lost to the fucking scarecrows, especially not at Elimination Chamber.

Groaning as he sat up, the hallway he had been left in swam before him for a moment.

Dean slowly got to his feet and then staggered towards the sound of the crowd.

His whole body ached but he was used to that, but the pounding in his head was more annoying.

Just as he reached the door towards the crowd he heard Lillian Garcia's easily recognisable voice echoed back to him

"Here are your winners THE WYATTS!"

"Fucking shit!"

The door received a kicking before his head span again and he collapsed against the wall.

"Shit."

* * *

"Erm, excuse me?"

Knock, knock, knock.

Dean had been lying on the medics bed, ice pack pressed to his head, bored and pissed off that a medic had been the first one to find him and forced him to get checked out. He knew he was fine, he had taken way worse before and he just wanted to get out of there but Raynor, the medic in charge had put his foot down and insisted he be checked for a concussion.

Knock, knock, knock.

He sat up, dropping the ice pack and looking to the door of the office. A very nervous girl was stood in the doorway.

She was cute. Short ash blonde hair cut to her jawline and glasses that magnified her green eyes. She held a radio in one hand and a clipboard in the other and was eying him warily.

"What?" he asked bluntly, more bluntly than he intended.

"Mi-Miss McMahon wants to see you."

Dean sighed.

"Yeah sure. I'll be there in a minute."

"A-actually she um, she asked me to escort you there." The girl couldn't meet his eyes, seemingly nervous of his reaction to this revelation and this almost made him laugh despite the fact that McMahon giving him an escort pissed him off.

"Well come in or get out, either way shut the damn door" he muttered and the green eyed girl immediately ducked out of the room muttering,

"I'll wait outside."

* * *

"So what does she want?" he asked, gum in his mouth and hand rubbing the back of his head a little as he walked with the cute intern or whatever she was towards Stephanie's office.

"I-um I really don't know Mr Ambrose"

"Dean" he corrected her and smirked slightly when she blushed and pushed her glasses up her nose as they had started to slide due to her looking at the ground "You got a name kiddo?"

"Oh erm, er Kendra, Mr Am - Dean"

As they approached Dean heard the McMahon woman before he saw her. She was barking orders at someone, a referee as it turned out as Kendra and Dean rounded the corner to find Stephanie looming over some poor referee who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

"Now go and do what your paid for!" Stephanie ordered before catching sight of Dean and his chaperone drawing closer.

"Ah Dean! Thank you for bringing him Kendra. That'll be all for now but stay close in case I need you." she dismissed the younger woman with a wave of her hand and Kendra gulped before turning away and busying herself with her clipboard.

"Now Dean, I know you must be upset about your loss tonight and I know that you and your friends have not been seeing eye to eye with myself or my husband recently but I have a job for you and well... something of a surprise as well."

Dean didn't like the look on his boss's face. She was smiling but it was anything from nice or endearing or comforting. Stephanie pushed open her office door and gestured for him to go inside.

Dean sauntered inside, glancing over his shoulder to see Stephanie enter behind him and close the door, then, when he turned to face the room in it's entirety he felt himself freeze.

"Sup Jonny"

* * *

"Sup Jonny"

It was one of the very few times in his life that Dean Ambrose, Jonathan Good was lost for words.

The girl sat on Stephanie McMahon's couch, who was leant forwards with her elbows on her knees and who was twisting the rings on her right middle and ring fingers, that girl, she had changed a lot since he'd last seen her but there was no mistaking those piercing amber almost orange eyes, that familiar twitch of the left corner of her mouth, that wild mane of curls that he had seen in all it's variety of colours.

Black, brown, ice blonde, pink, it had been candy floss blue the last time they had crossed paths.

Right now however it was a shade of deep dark red, all natural not like Evie Mary or whatever her name was.

But that wasn't the important thing right now.

Because it was Chris.

Chris goddamn Cranson.

Well what the shit.

* * *

 **Ta da**

 **Hope this was enough to get you interested, hopefully there will be more soon.**

 **I write as much as I can but I have work and school so it can be delayed sometimes.**

 **I love feedback, I love hearing what you like, what could be better, what you want to see, let me know y'all!**

 **So who is Chris?**

 **Thoughts?**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	2. Not hers

**So I'm probably going to refer to the superstars by their real names as much as possible but sometimes they will be called by their ring names. I hope it's not too confusing.**

 **Jonathan Good - Dean Ambrose**

 **Joe - Roman Reigns**

 **Trinity - Naomi**

* * *

Chris had expected a lot of things to happen when Jon saw her sitting in Stephanie McMahon's office.

Shouting.

Cussing.

More shouting.

Screaming.

More cussing.

But the silence and the staring was almost worse.

She kind of figured that 3 years wouldn't be long enough for bygones to bygones.

The Jon she knew looked like he had changed a lot in 3 years, physically at least. He'd changed his hair, he was leaner and looked taller than ever but then again he had always towered over her even when he was a lanky 15 year old bringing Chinese takeout to her apartment.

Not really knowing what to do with herself in the silence, Chris slowly stood up, alternating between twisting her rings and fiddling with the zipper on her hoodie.

"So I understand you two know each other?" Miss McMahon spoke from behind Jon, a clearly falsely cheery tone in her voice.

Chris watched as Jon's jaw clenched out of sight of Miss McMahon and she shrugged, sliding her hands into her pockets.

"We've met" Jon said tightly.

"Good well, Ambrose" Stephanie moved to stand in between them beaming widely "Chris here has been down at the performance centre for a little while now and both myself and Hunter feel she has a unique gift for what it is we do here. Then when we discovered that you two had history well Hunter had the simply brilliant idea of having her train and eventually debut here on the main roster with the Shield!"

Neither Jon nor Chris said anything.

Stephanie was unperturbed though as she clapped her hands gleefully and said

"Isn't that just fantastic?!"

Chris managed to crack a smile and nodded as enthusiastically as she could, still watching Jon from the corner of her eye. Jon didn't say anything just shoved his hands into the pockets of his battered leather jacket.

"Excellent! Well I'm sure you two crazy kids have a lot to catch up on! Off you go, and keep me updated on how things progress alright?"

And with that Chris and Jon were ushered from the room.

* * *

Stephanie's door swung shut and Jon found himself standing alone with Chris in the hallway.

It was unbearably silent.

"Phone"

It was Jon who broke the silence with the single word command. Automatically Chris did as she was asked and she rummaged in her deep pocket before unlocking and then handing over her phone to Jon.

Jon didn't even glance at her as he took the phone, punched in his number, took hers, and then handed the phone back.

As she took it Chris swallowed and opened and shut her mouth a few times before managing to get out

"Jonny I-"

"Don't." Jon barked already turning on his heel and walking away "I'll text about training but- just don't Chris."

As he walked Jon glanced at his phone and inwardly groaned at the dozens of missed calls and texts from both Seth and Roman.

He probably had a lot of explaining to do.

But after Stephanie's "surprise" all he really wanted to do was head to the nearest bar as quickly as possible.

* * *

 _Raw March 3 2014_

"I CAN'T BE THE GLUE THAT KEEPS THIS THING TOGETHER!"

Chris was sat on a container legs crossed like she was a kindergartener at story time, watching as Jon's friend Seth (at least she thought they were friends) shouted in the other one, Roman's face before walking away from their match against the Wyatts.

On Stephanie's orders Chris had shown up at both Raw and Smackdown the week after Elimination Chamber and was under instruction to continue to do so until such a time as she debuted.

It had been a week since Stephanie had essentially dumped her and her training on Jon and the Shield and she hadn't heard from Jon once. She wasn't surprised though.

She figured he needed time to deal with her showing up in his life again.

And by deal with it she assumed that meant drinking.

A lot.

So until Jon was ready she had taken it upon herself to keep up her training. So the first time she came to Raw she squared her shoulders, marched into the divas locker room and asked the first person she saw if they would help her out. That person was Trinity better known to the WWE universe as Naomi. Thankfully Trinity accepted the request and welcomed Chris with open arms.

That very week they had their first training session and Trinity couldn't help but be impressed. Chris had a gift for picking up quickly but she was quiet and attentive paying close attention to every detail of what Trinity showed her.

"Here are your winners the Wyatts!" came the announcement breaking Chris out of her reverie and she looked up at the screen to see both Roman and Jon laid out in the ring with the creepy as shit Wyatts standing over them.

Movement to her right caught her eye and she looked round to see Seth himself stalking past her. She considered saying something to him but decided against it. It wasn't exactly like Jon had introduced her to his teammates yet and she didn't think now was the time.

She decided to keep out of sight when the Wyatts walked past, not wanting to deal with that brand of crazy just yet.

No, her preferred brand of crazy appeared about 5 minutes later looking slightly dazed and subtly limping on his right foot.

 _"This is a bad idea"_ the more rational side of her brain tried to tell her as she began to approach Jon but like what happened normally when her mind tried to be rational she ignored it and walked right up to him.

"You ok?" she asked and it seemed to take Jon a minute to focus on her.

"The hell are you doin' here?" he asked as he took her by the arm and pulled her to a more secluded area.

"McMahon wants me at the shows." she said with a shrug "Are. You. Ok?"

"Fine" he said through gritted teeth.

They lapsed into silence for a moment before Chris, once more against her better judgement, decided to try again.

"Jonny look I-"

"I cant find that son of a bitch anyw- oh" Roman Reigns had appeared suddenly looking beyond pissed off until he saw the pair before him. Then, his expression changed to one of confusion.

"Who-"

"Chris, Roman. Roman, Chris." Dean said quickly and bluntly like he really didn't want to.

"Joe, please" the big man said with an easy smile extending a hand which Chris accepted. She noticed that despite the smile Joe shot a quizzical look at Jon who was stood fidgeting agitatedly to one side.

"Meet you at the car?" Joe said and Jon nodded jerkily. With one last glance between the pair Joe walked away, and Chris noticed that he too was limping slightly, affects of the Wyatts no doubt.

"I gotta go" muttered Jon after a moment and he saw Chris's head droop and her shoulders sag slightly.

"Sure"

And for the second time in a week Chris watched as Dean walked away from her.

* * *

"So who's Chris?"

Jon cracked open one bleary eye from where he was lying on the couch in their hotel room.

"Don't dude. Just don't."

"C'mon brother" chuckled Joe walking over and handing Jon a beer which he accepted gratefully and swung his legs round so he was sat upright "I'm just sayin' you and her looked awful close. Close enough that she got you more pissed than I've ever see you."

"Wasn't pissed" muttered Jon taking a swing from his bottle.

"Dude you had you're Mox face on" Joe chuckled again, before wincing and pressing a finger to the slight swelling under his left eye "So come on who is she? Ex? Hook up? Secret sister?"

Jon didn't bother to answer just chucked a pillow at Joe's head before taking himself and his beer to his room.

Crashing out on his bed he groaned at the pain in his head.

As far as he was concerned right now Bray Wyatt could suck it.

Seth Rollins could suck it.

And Chris...

Chris.

Jon sighed and pulled out his phone.

He typed out a quick message and then just stared at it for a moment.

 _Barnes and Rogers Gym_

 _8:30am_

 _Be there._

He stared at the message for a moment before deleting it and tossing his phone away.

No.

Chris could suck it too.

* * *

 _I'm sorry._

 _You cant avoid me forever._

 _Jonny please talk to me._

 _I don't expect you too forgive me but..._

Chris sighed and deleted the last message as well.

Every time she typed out a message to Jon she deleted it before she even sent it.

Even if it was very out of character for him, if Jon wanted to play the silent treatment she wasn't going to stop him.

She did kind of deserve it after all.

But it was very out of character for Jon.

Back in the day her Jonny would have rather cussed (or in some cases punched) a person out instead of just ignoring them.

But then again, people changed.

She was living proof of that.

And maybe he wasn't her Jonny anymore.

* * *

 **Ta da!**

 **Sorry I know not much action! more to come.**

 **Soooooo, any guesses on how Chris and Jon actually know each other? I'd love to hear your ideas.**

 **So I was worried that I was making Dean to OOC so that's why I addressed it in the chapter but hopefully I can justify and explain why he is the way he is and then get him back to what I think is more normal.**

 **Hope it's okay!**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	3. Looking for drama? I'm not your girl

SMACKDOWN MARCH 7 2014

"We can handle getting beat up, we can handle getting hurt we can handle physical pain that ain't a problem." Chris watched on the monitor as Jo- no at that moment he was known as Dean to every member of the audience, as Dean paused and rolled his neck agitatedly.

"I don't know about you Roman but there's one thing that I cant handle what I will not tolerate... what WILL keep me up at night and that is being LIED to by someone that I trust. And I feel like we've been lied to for the past 18 months. See, I was under the impression that the Shield had each other's backs!"

As Jon. Dean. Whatever. He was always gonna be Jon to her.

As Jon continued to snarl his words about Seth, Chris could see why he was the seen mouthpiece of the Shield, his mic work was off the charts.

She watched as Seth appeared, as they argued back and forth before Seth punched Dean in the jaw making him crash to the mat.

"Chris!"

Not tearing her eyes away from the screen at the sound of Trinity's voice, she raised a hand in her general direction as Trinity walked over and leant against the wall beside her just as, on the screen, Jon hauled off and hit Seth back before Roman shoved the two apart.

"Chris you met the twins yet?"

That was enough to grab her attention. Tearing her attention away from the screen she turned to Trinity to find that her new found friend was not alone.

The Bella Twins, stood side by side with identical smirks on their identical faces.

"Nikki"

"Brie"

"Yeah I know who you guys are" Chris said shaking the hands that were extended to her. "Chris."

"Chrissss" Nikki said as if testing the name out, dragging out the S sound at the end "You were at the performance centre right? I think I saw you when we were there filming for Total Divas."

"Yeah maybe we caught you in the background!" Brie said enthusiastically "Did you notice if you were in the footage?"

Chris shook her head and the twins looked at each other then at her.

"You do watch the show right?" said Nikki and Chris shook her head again with a small smile.

"Sorry ladies cant say I do" she said turning back to look at the screen where Dean and Seth were nose to nose muttering things at each other "Don't get a lot of time to watch TV."

The Bellas looked disappointed to hear that and Chris, not wanting to make enemies out of them, said to appease them (though she didn't really mean it) "I've obviously seen you guys in the ring though. I uh, guess I've still got a lot to learn."

This seemed to do the trick as the twins smiled and flicked their hair in unison. In fact, the little movements that the twins seemed to naturally do in sync were weirding Chris out slightly. She just found it a bit unnerving.

"So" Nikki said, her voice all business as she pointed at the screen "Which one are you dating?"

THAT.

That got Chris's attention.

She promptly nearly swallowed her chewing gum and choked, coughing and spluttering causing Trinity to have to whack her on the back several times.

"Erm what?" was all she managed to choke out to start with.

"Or is it just a hook up for now?" asked Brie.

Chris looked from one identical face to the other before trying to laugh at the implication and said in what she hoped was a calm but jokey voice

"Guys I'm so brutally single right now it's not even funny."

"Suuuuure" Nikki dragged out the word waggling her eyebrows as Brie said

"That's why you basically haven't stopped staring at the screen this whole time..."

"... and why the rumours are that you're supposed to be training with the Shield..." mused Niki

"...and that Reigns walked into a pretty heated discussion between you and Ambrose." finished Brie whilst Chris just stared at them and did her best not to clench her jaw.

"I'm gonna say this as plainly as possible, I'm not dating _or_ screwing Rollins, Roman or Jon, I-"

"Ooooooh _'Jon'_!" came the synchronised voices and Chris could have kicked herself for calling him that. It just came out so naturally.

So did the following lie

"Hate to disappoint ladies but if you're looking for drama I'm not your girl."

The Bellas just looked at each other, smirked, looked back at Chris and said together

"Ok. Bye Chris."

And then they walked away, heels click-clacking and hips swaying in unison.

"You're fightin' a losin' battle with those two gurl." Trinity said sympathetically as Chris shook her head, sighing and turned back to the screen.

"The last thing I need are rumours."

"Well you better get used to it" Trinity said bluntly "People have already started noticin' you hangin' round backstage. No one really knows who you are so what else are they gonna do except talk and make up their own version of events?"

Chris sighed but didn't answer her friend.

Up on the monitor, the Shield stood in the ring, seemingly united at last with the fists out in the symbol of solidarity.

* * *

Seth Rollins had just exited the shower, towel round his waist when the knock at the hotel room door came. He swore under his breath as he hurried to his bag and grabbed a pair of sweatpants calling as he did

"Yeah gimme a minute!"

Dean couldn't answer it as he was still at the gym, and Roman was on the phone to his daughter so it fell to a half dressed Seth to pad barefoot across the carpeted hotel room and looked through the peep hole.

"The hell..." he muttered before opening the door to reveal the girl he had seen through the spy hole. She was shorter than him by at least a foot and her dark red waves just brushed the tops of her shoulders. She was hot. Very pretty he'd have to be blind not to see it. Curves in all the right places, smooth porcelain skin, though in fairness most of it was covered by the patched and worn black hoodie she was wearing. It clearly wasn't bought for her however, as the sleeves hung over her hands and the garment stopped at her mid thigh. The shape of her legs was clear from the skinny black jeans she wore, tucked into black combat boots laced up with electric blue ribbons.

So to recap.

Hot girl.

Total stranger.

At their door at 12:30am.

With a suitcase and a duffel bag.

"Can I help you?" he asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Is um, is Jon here?" she asked glancing up at him, seemingly a little nervous.

"No. Why? And not to be rude sweetheart but who the hell are you exactly?"

"I er, I'm Chris. Miss McMahon she uh, she told Jon I'm supposed to be training with you guys until I - until they let me on tv."

"First I've heard about it." Seth said a little sceptically and the girl, Chris, sighed.

"Look I'm not some crazy fan ok? I'm on the roster, I-I know Jon, I've met Joe and I really am supposed to train with you guys I swear I-"

"Woah woah ok ok, I believe you, Chris was it? I believe you."

It wasn't totally unfeasible. Jon was unreliable with relaying information at the best of times and it wasn't like they had been on the best terms over the last couple weeks. Now for the second part of the mystery visit...

"Ok so I believe the whole training thing, but um, why are you here?"

"Because" Chris sighed again and ran a hand irately through her hair before saying in a voice tight with controlled irritation "The hotel messed up my booking and they have no free rooms. In fact there are no free rooms in a 20 mile radius."

"Ok..."

"I called Miss McMahon and she erm 'suggested' I ask to stay with you guys." Chris looked down at her boots again and said quickly "Look this wasn't my idea and you can tell me to get lost if you want but I didn't wanna disobey my boss in like my second week and I'm kinda up shit creek right now and-"

"Woah ok!" Seth couldn't help but laugh as Chris's rambling came to a stop as he cut her off "It's alright. Uh, look come in, I'll text De- Jon let him know we've got an extra guest, and we'll sort something out ok?"

Chris breathed a sigh of relief and said

"Holy shit, thank you so much. I owe you man."

"Nah it's all good." Seth chuckled again and before Chris could protest he reached forward and picked up the her heavy suitcase. It was two thirds the size of Chris herself but self slung it into the room like it weighed nothing, as Chris grabbed her other bag and hurried across the threshold.

"So um you said you knew Jon?" he said as he went to the little kitchen area and grabbed himself and Chris a beer each, which she declined when he offered it to her.

"Yeah, yeah I know Jon"

"From NXT or …" he said seeing he was going to have to prompt her for answers.

"We uh, we actually know each other from home. I'm from Cincinnati."

"Shit really? How long have you two-"

"Dude is he not back ye- Oh hey, Chris right?"

Joe had appeared from the door to the left.

"Yeah."

Joe looked from Seth to Chris as if to ask "ok what's happening?"

"Hotel screwed up her booking. McMahon told her to come here." Seth explained.

"Alright then" Joe said walking over and taking the second beer from Seth before sitting on the couch whilst Seth settled in the chair and Chris hovered by the door "Why?"

"Jon didn't tell you either? She's supposed to be training with us."

Seth looked to Chris who was still standing uncomfortably off to the side and he gestured for her to join them

"Sit down, jeez you're makin' me feel awkward."

"Sorry Rollins" she smiled sheepishly and went and sat on the opposite side to the couch to Roman, who smiled at her.

"Call me Colby. If you're gonna call those two losers by their real names you may as well know mine.

"Colby. Cool."

They talked for a little bit, mostly consisting of the guys asking questions about Chris some of which she was less than forthcoming with but the guys didn't push her for answers, especially because she seemed to get more nervous the more time passed.

At about 1:30am Joe said he was going to bed, and bid the other two goodnight.

A few moments of silence passed in which Chris sat chewing on her bottom lip, twisting the rings on her fingers and jigging her left leg up and down until Colby finally asked

"Are you ok?"

"Huh? Oh yeah I just" She paused and wiped her hands on her jeans before getting to her feet "This was a bad idea, I should - I should just go before-"

"The fuck are you doin' here?"

* * *

 **Ta da!**

 **I think you can all guess who just interrupted Chris!**

 **So a tiny little bit more information about where Chris knows Jon from and she's finally met all the members of the Shield! Yey! But the Bellas are also ready to stir up some trouble for our girl!**

 **Let me know what you think! Love to hear from you!**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	4. Jon's something

"The fuck are you doin' here?"

Chris all but jumped to her feet when she heard Jon's voice and turned to face the man himself who was stood by the open door. Colby too got to his feet though much slower and he said with a slightly guilty expression

"Shit bro, I was gonna text you, Chris-"

"I asked her" Jon cut him off still glaring at Chris who suddenly became very interested in her shoes and muttered

"They fucked up my hotel booking"

"It was McMahon's idea, sending her here" said Colby with a pointed look.

Dean ran a hand through his hair and over his face before saying with a shake of his head

"Ok I'm not sober enough for this shit. 'm goin' to bed. You" he waved his hand at Colby "You can sort this shit out" and with that he turned and walked, swaying slightly, towards the third bedroom.

"Thought you were staying at the gym not going to the bar!" Colby called after him but Jon just flipped him off over his shoulder.

The door slammed shut behind him, leaving Chris and Colby alone in the main room.

"You can uh, you can take my bed" Colby offered and Chris shook her head,

"Nah man, I'm cool on the couch I've done it enough tim-"

"Sweetheart, Joe and my mom would kick my ass if they found out I let a girl sleep on the couch. You take my room, I'll take the couch. No arguments."

For a moment it looked like Chris still wanted to argue but, her would be point was muted when a large yawn slipped out and Seth laughed

"Go get some sleep. You'll need it if you're gonna deal with a hungover Dean in the morning."

Now it was Chris's turn to laugh.

"Ain't that the truth" she muttered, as she bent down and heaved one bag up onto her shoulder and grabbed her suitcase with the other hand. Colby pointed to the door directly behind her, and Chris headed towards it. Just as she placed a hand on the wood she heard Colby say

"Night Chris, it was uh, good to meet you."

"Yeah. Night Colby."

* * *

"Jesus Mary mother of Christ!"

The exclamation came tumbling out of Chris's mouth as she was woken by a bang and a string of curse words only to be confronted by the sight of a very shirtless Colby cradling his elbow with an expression of pain, embarrassment and irritation on his face.

"Sorry, shit, sorry" he said rubbing his elbow "I needed to get a shirt and didn't wanna wake you, so I didn't turn the light on and I smacked into the wall because I'm a dumbass."

"Uh, don't worry bout it."

Colby nodded appreciatively and went back to digging through his bag for a shirt. As he did Chris couldn't stop herself from admiring his physique. True he had been shirtless when he let her in last night but at one in the morning and the state she was in, it hadn't really been the main thing on her mind.

Now however, now was a different story.

"You enjoyin' the view?" Colby's voice broke her reverie and she quickly looked away with a guilty smile.

"Nope" she said unconvincingly but one glance back at the him and her guilty smile widened into a full grin. Colby smiled back and straightened up, a shirt held balled up in his hand.

"Hey if you want a proper show..." he said raising his arms and flexing and Chris looked away laughing as she said wryly

"Dude I met you less than 24 hours ago, we are so not at that level yet."

"Sorry" Seth shrugged though his smile said otherwise "Guess I misjudged where this friendship was."

"Oh we're friends are we?" Chris said raising an eyebrow, a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth.

"Sweetheart you knocked on my door at a frankly ungodly hour, asked to stay, then stayed in my bed while I took the couch, yeah I think that's a pretty good start to a friendship don't you?" Colby pointed out.

"Fair point" Chris agreed and Seth smiled then hesitated "What?" she asked.

"Just a warning, Jon's already up, he's pissed and hungover."

"Great. Oh well, nothing I haven't dealt with before."

"Damn. Exactly how well do you two know each other?" Colby asked folding his arms and leaning against the wall.

"Well enough" she said grimly.

There was a brief pause while Colby seemed to be debating his next words. He decided to say them anyway

"What's his beef with you?"

"Huh?" Chris said evasively, suddenly very interested in scraping her hair up into a ponytail.

"Well considering how far back you two go he didn't exactly seem happy to see you.

"Colby, trust me you do NOT want to get in the middle of my shit with Jonny. You think you've seen him mad?"

Colby nodded but Chris shook her head chuckling darkly.

"Yeah? Well I've seen him go nuclear. When this thing comes to a head and it will, it's gonna be world war three and me and Jon? When we fight we don't get mad we get murderous. So trust me. Keep your nose out."

There was a beat of silence.

"Damn. Did you practice those lines in the mirror or something?"

And then Chris was laughing, for real this time as Colby grinned at her and said with his hands raised

"I'm just sayin' you've really got it down, the whole warning people to stay out of your shit thing!"

"Fine don't listen to me" shrugged Chris still smiling "But when one of us stabs you in the face for getting involved you don't get to say I didn't warn you."

"Understood." Colby said, slightly muffled as he finally pulled the shirt in his hands over his head, covering the solid abs that Chris had been admiring before the conversation took a detour into Jon territory.

Those abs.

 _"Girl I don't care how long it's been, get your head out of the damn gutter. You just met him, he's Jon's friend and you don't need to give Jon another reason to hate you."_

"Hungry?" Asked Colby, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Starvin'"

"C'mon then" Colby beckoned for her to follow him. Swinging her legs out and over the side of the bed, Chris slid her bare feet into her boots stood up and exited the room, Colby letting her pass him and go through the door first into the main room.

* * *

 _"Damn"_

Had been his first thought when he had awoken Chris.

She had sat up, bed head, voice husky from sleep and one strap of her tank top had slid down her arm.

His assessment from the previous night had been wrong.

She wasn't hot.

She was goddamn stunning.

 _"Don't you dare Lopez. She's Jon's - something - and it wont do anyone any good to get involved, no matter how drop dead gorgeous she is."_ Colby thought to himself as he listened to her warn him not to get in the middle of the impending mutually assured destruction between herself and Jon.

Then she just had to go and laugh and he was completely lost in the sound of it.

 _"Dude you just broke it off with Kayla, not the time! Besides she's Jon's... something."_

"Hungry?" he asked trying to break off his current train of thought.

"Starvin'" she answered.

"C'mon then" he said gesturing for her to come with him.

And then he just had to be the gentleman and hold the door open so that she could exit the room first. Ladies first and all that.

And she just had to be wearing a pair of pyjama shorts that were almost, almost too short.

And she just had to look amazing even in a ratty t-shirt, sleep shorts and boots.

"Damn"

Yeah he was fucked.

Because she just had to be Jon's... something.

* * *

 **Hey so I know not much has happened and it's kind of short but I was just aware I hadn't updated for a bit and just wanted to get this out there.**

 **Love to hear what you think, i'm petty and pathetic and must get validation from others to feel complete.**

 **Give me feedback, critiques, ideas and what you want to see happen!**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	5. Either is cool

Joe was eating in the kitchen area, leaning against the counter.

As Colby and Chris walked past the couch and armchairs, Colby picked up a pillow from one of the chairs and threw it at the prone form of Jon who was lying on the couch with one arm slung over his face.

"Wake up asshole!"

"Screw you Lopez!" came the groggy response as Jon threw the pillow back at Colby who caught it easily, chuckling. Turning to Chris he posed the one word question

"Pancakes?"

"You can make pancakes?" she answered a little sceptically.

"Excuse me little lady, but I happen to make the best choc chip pancakes you'll ever taste in your life." Colby responded "Am I right Joe?"

"He's right" Joe said after swallowing his mouthful of food and returning the fist bump that Colby extended.

"Pancakes it is then" Chris said.

The next half an hour was filled with the smell of pancakes and conversation between Chris, Joe and Colby that became progressively easier and more friendly as the time went on. Surprising herself, Chris found that she was actually quite comfortable around Jon's friends, more so than she was being around Jon at the moment.

It turned out that Colby hadn't been lying about his pancake skills.

As Chris polished off her second plate of pancakes, she was vaguely aware of Joe and Colby talking quietly too each other.

"So" Colby's voice made her look up "McMahon wants you to train with us right? Feel like starting today?"

Chris was halfway through taking a gulp of her drink and nearly choked on her orange juice. Trying to regain her composure she said, still coughing

"Uh, yeah, yeah sure."

Colby smiled at her response and then glanced past her. He directed his next comment at the couch

"You gonna come with us?"

"Fuck off Lopez" groaned Jon, rolling over on the couch so his back was to them.

"Guessing that's a no" chuckled Colby, before heading towards his room "Gonna get my stuff then you can get ready in my room Chris."

"Thanks" Chris said, looking deliberately at her plate.

But that didn't stop her from sneaking a glance at Colby's retreating form as he went.

And maybe her eyes lingered a little to long.

* * *

"So Chris" Joe said as he drove them to the local gym that they were going to train at "Jon never said how you two know each oth-"

"Don't go there man" Colby chuckled "I've already asked and already had the fear of god put into me about getting involved. Don't. Go. There."

"He's not wrong big guy" Chris smirked from the back seat.

"Okay. Understood, I'll ask no more about it."

"Me too" grinned Colby.

A few moments of silence passed.

"So you a DC fan?" he asked in reference to her t-shirt.

"Thought you said you weren't gonna ask no more?"

Colby shrugged

"Yeah about you and Good. Cant ask a pretty girl if she's a DC fan?"

 _'Okay so he called you pretty. Doesn't mean he's still flirting like earlier so doesn't mean you can flirt back.'_

"Don't see any pretty girls round here to ask" quipped back Chris.

"Must have pretty shitty eye sight then"

 _'Okay now we're **definitely** flirting. SO STOP YA DUMB BITCH.'_

There were a hundred "even if" scenarios that would have to happen before IT could happen.

Even if he magically knew exactly how much baggage she came with and was okay with it. Even if he knew everything. Even if he wasn't Jon's best friend and even though he was smoking hot, she had just met the guy, literally less than 24 hours ago. Surely that was too soon right? Especially for anything serious to be crossing her mind.

 _'But there's nothing serious about a little flirting.'_

"Nope. My eyes work just fine." she responded and more than a little blatantly looked him up and down. "And I'm actually more of a marvel fan. Just got a soft spot for Harley and old clown face. Sucker for a love story even for the bad guys."

"Pretty fucked up love story"

"Aren't they all?"

"Touche" laughed Colby and Joe joined in the laughter.

For the rest of the drive she and the guys began bonding over their shared love of Marvel and most importantly Iron Man.

* * *

"Okay. Time to show us what you got sweetheart."

Chris had nearly pinched herself when they arrived at the gym.

She was stood there. In a ring. In a Harley and Joker t-shirt and basketball shorts.

With two thirds of the Shield, who wanted to see how good she was in the ring.

...

...

...

How the fuck had she ended up here?

Was she complaining? Nope.

Was she nervous? Fuck yes.

Was she gonna admit that in front of them? Hell no.

"Sure" she said smoothly "Which one of you is gonna get your ass handed to you?"

Both guys laughed and Joe said in his deep voice

"I'm gonna give that honour to Colby. Don't wanna hurt you in your first practice with us."

"Looks like I'm up then" Colby said, as Joe stepped out of the ring and turned to face them.

"Don't worry I'll go easy on you" he said with a smirk which Chris returned easily

"I'll do my best not to hurt you. And to leave you with a little bit a' dignity."

* * *

"Damn, you really know your stuff" Colby said an hour later as he got to his feet after Chris hit him with a Hurricanrana.

"I learn fast" was all she said as she did a dropkick and went to the top rope while Seth collected himself. As he turned round Chris leaped from the top rope in a Thesz press and both she and Colby tumbled to the mat.

Chris's momentum meant although she landed on his middle, her upper body threw forwards on impact. This meant that their torsos were pressed together and also that Colby got a face full of dark red hair.

 _'God she's gorgeous. Even all sweaty and focused and- okay if she moves like that again we're gonna have problems!'_

Because Chris, realising how close their faces were had cleared her throat and sat up. Except when she sat up she had moved back and -

"Wanna get off me sweetheart?"

 _'Or get me off either is cool'_ said the sexually frustrated side of his brain.

 _'Damn dude I know it's been a while but seriously?'_ said the other side.

Chris flushed and practically fell off of him, scrambling to her feet, Colby getting up also. He too cleared his throat and then said

"Uh, Joe, you wanna take over?"

* * *

"So I get the seal of approval?" Chris asked, as they got in the car, having showered and changed at the gym.

"I got nothin' bad to say" Joe smiled "You know your stuff and what you don't know, you'll learn fast enough, most of what you haven't got already just comes from experience."

"Thanks" Chris ducked her head with a slightly embarrassed smile before clearing her throat and saying to neither man in particular "Got any idea what the boss lady or her man wants to do with me?"

"We're as in the dark as you are. Hell we didn't even know who you were till you showed up at the hotel an- well actually we still don't really know who you ar- which we are not gonna talk about as I am gonna heed my earlier warning about staying out of things that don't concern me!" Colby said quickly after a glare from Chris and then said in a normal tone "My guess they'll probably package you like Jon. Ya know, part brawler, part high-flyer, part submission specialist. You can pull of any of them, and my guess is they'll want to keep that unpredictability, 'specially if you're sticking with us."

Chris frowned in slight confusion and Colby explained. As he carried on his voice took on a tone that Chris couldn't quite place. Was that darkness? Disgust? Scorn?

"If I know the McMahon's they'll use your history with Jon in whatever storyline you get. You should be ready for that. And they'll probably want to match you guys character wise."

As they drove back the rest of the way to the hotel, Chris looked out the window and thought

 _'Great. So my boss will probably want to air my personal shit on an international stage. This oughtta be good.'_

* * *

 **Hey!**

 **So I know not a lot happened, but this will probably be the most slow burn story I ever write at least in terms of relationships. Just when you think you know what's coming, BAM! hopefully i'll surprise you.**

 **There is so much more to come I promise.**

 **Let me know what you think!**

 **BTW I wrote one of my fave things I've ever written in this chapter, like I rarely make myself laugh with my own writing but:**

"Wanna get off me sweetheart?"

 _'Or get me off either is cool'_

 **LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL (If I do say so myself)**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	6. Should have known better

"Yo Chris!"

Chris pulled out one of her earbuds and looked over from where she was lying on the couch in the hotel room.

Colby had just walked out of his room and Chris had to supress a gulp.

But damn did he look fine as all hell.

Jeans, a navy shirt with sleeves that had three quarter length sleeves, his hair tied back and a baseball cap on his head.

This was just unfair. She had been trying so hard to ignore a) how attractive she undeniably found Colby Lopez b) the fact that it was slightly more than just a physical attraction.

But then he had to go and look at her like that, looking the way he did.

"What?" she asked , tearing her eyes away and looking back at her phone.

"You comin' out tonight?"

She shrugged and Colby rolled his eyes.

"Awww come on! You've been with us for like two weeks and you haven't been out once! C'mon, Joe's going, the USOs, Daniel, even Jon's going. I think most of the divas are going. Be a chance for you to make some friends."

"I have friends. I got you and Joe and Trinity."

"Well then as your friend I'm using friend power to make you come out for a drink." Colby said smugly before a wicked grin appeared on his face as an idea struck him. "Now either go get ready, or I'm gonna call the Bellas to get you ready. So unless you want to end up looking like a 2 dollar hooker I'd go get ready now."

"Using the Bellas? Low blow Lopez, low blow!"

"I'm callin' Brie now..." Colby held up his phone and Chris rolled her eyes.

"Okay! Okay! I'm going!"

* * *

The club was packed when they arrived.

Colby held the door open for her and Chris walked in first.

She immediately felt under dressed because the first people she saw were Nikki, Brie and Ariane (better known as Cameron, Trinity's Funkadactyl partner). They were all in skin tight dresses, six inch heels and had their faces immaculately made up.

Chris on the other hand was wearing no make up, had her hair scraped up into a ponytail and was wearing her leather jacket with black jean shorts and fishnets underneath leading down to her combat boots.

She felt underdressed but then was slight comforted by the memory of Colby's face when she had come out of her room.

At least she knew one person thought she looked good as her hot mess self.

"Hey Colby!"

It was the USOs who had called and Colby grinned leading Chris to a table in the corner.

"Chris? He finally dragged you out with us then?" Joe said, his deep voice carrying over the noise.

"Yeah. What can I say? I'm a sucker for idiots with weird hair and a good 'you just kicked my puppy' face." Chris grinned and Colby elbowed her in the ribs "Oh that and he threatened to set the Bellas on me and I ain't worked out a way how to handle them yet."

"Careful" Daniel Bryan said with a smile "That's my fiancé and her sister your talking about."

"Sorry" Chris said sheepishly, taking a seat next to one of the USOs, as Colby sat across from her.

"Don't mention it. I know better than anyone those two can be a lot to handle. Bryan by the way." Bryan said smiling, extending a hand which Chris shook. She was then introduced to Joshua and Jonathan Fatu and Kofi. Chris successfully kept the spotlight of conversation off of herself for most of the night, and eventually had to admit to herself she was actually having a good time, sitting with the guys, listening to them talk and joke, just quietly sipping at her lemonade, the only one at the table not drinking alcohol.

As Kofi told a story about his early days in WWE, Chris did a quick scout of drinks and went up to the bar to order another round. As she was waiting, she felt someone come up behind her.

"Hey baby. You drinking alone?"

Chris rolled her eyes at the lame attempt of being suave before turning to face the man who had spoken. He was tall, with a nose that had clearly been broken a time or two and a shaved head.

"Not interested buddy" she said bluntly but unfortunately that didn't put the man off as he leered down at her eyes fixed squarely on her boobs.

"Awww c'mon baby don't be like that! How about I buy you a drink then me and you find somewhere... private to talk." as he finished his sentence he reached out to twirl a stray red curl of her hair, but she slapped at his hand.

"Not. Interested." she snapped again and the guy frowned at her.

"Don't be a bitch sweetheart, you're to sexy to be so uptight."

"I wouldn't bother dude. You'll just wake up tomorrow with all your shit missing and she'll have done a runner."

Both Chris and the man trying to pick her up turned to find Jon leaning against the bar behind them with a slight sneer on his face as he kept his eyes focused on Chris. The man looked between Chris and John with a confused expression before giving up and walking away.

"Thanks. I guess." Chris said and Jon snorted

"Was for his benefit not yours. He should know what he was getting into with you."

"Screw you Jonny."

Chris turned away from him, a teeth gritted, paid for the drinks, took them back to the table without even looking at Jon and then went outside to the alley for a smoke.

Even though she knew she deserved it, the jabs from Jon over the past couple of weeks were starting to get to her. But she knew she _did_ deserve it.

She had been out there for less than three minutes when the flirty guy came up to her again.

"Pretty girls shouldn't smoke."

"Jesus Christ man, can't you take a hint?"

But out here, away from the crowds the man took a far more direct approach. Chris dropped her cigarette as the guy suddenly backed her up into the wall, pinning her wrists up by her head.

"Come on gorgeous, don't be like that..." he murmured dropping his lips to her neck as Chris struggled against him, but he outweighed her by too much for her to be able to move him.

"get the fuck off of me" she growled trying to raise her knee between his legs but finding herself unable to.

"Hey asshole!"

Suddenly the weight of the man was gone and Chris heard the thud of fist hitting face. Colby was stood over the man glaring down at him, fists clenched and bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready to take another swing. The guy got up, clutching his jaw and stumbling and Colby made to move towards him again, but Chris got in between them, placing a hand on Colby's chest.

"Don't do it Lopez"

"Yeah Lopez listen to your little bit-"

But the asshole didn't get to finish his words as now it was Chris who span round and punched him in the face.

"Get fucked asshole" she spat at him before walking away back towards where Colby had parked the car when they arrived. Colby glared after the guy as he stumbled away before following after Chris. He found her leaning against the roof of the car, her head resting on her folded arms and even from the distance he was at, Colby could see she was shaking.

"Hey, you oka- woah Chris! It's just me!" Colby interrupted his own sentence as when he put a hand on her shoulder, Chris whirled round fist raised ready to attack. She blinked when she saw it was him and lowered her arm.

"Sorry" she murmured as Colby put his hands in his pockets.

"It's okay."

They stood in silence for a moment.

Then-

"I'm gonna erm, call a cab. Go back to the hotel." Chris said but Colby shook his head.

"Nah we'll take the car."

Chris raised an eyebrow at him.

"We?"

"I'm not feelin' it tonight. Was thinking about heading back anyway." Colby shrugged, with such ease that Chris couldn't tell if he was lying or not.

"Okay then.

* * *

They didn't say a word to each other on the way back to the hotel.

In fact Chris didn't speak until both she and Colby had showered and changed, Chris into a pair of pyjama shorts and an oversized iron man t shirt. Colby came out of his room in a pair of sweatpants and no shirt, because even with the AC on, it was extremely warm in the hotel room.

They were watching an old episode of Game of Thrones and had been for twenty minutes before Chris finally said

"I'm sorry"

Colby looked at her in surprise and confusion.

"Why?"

"You shouldn't have had to get involved. 's my fault." Chris said looking at her hands and twisting her snake ring round her finger.

"That guy was a douchebag, why the hell are you sayin' sorry for him going after you?" Colby sounded almost angry and Chris dug her nails into her hand so hard they nearly drew blood.

"I shoulda known he wasn't gonna stop. _I_ should have known better."

"Hey! Hey stop!" Colby moved across the couch and did something he wasn't sure was okay but didn't think long enough to stop himself.

He took her small hands in his and unfurled her fists so that she stopped digging her nails into her hands.

"It's not your fault" He said earnestly looking down at her.

Chris looked from their hands up to his face.

It was only now she realised how close they were.

It wasn't a moment or anything...

And then Colby's eyes very obviously dropped to her lips, and his tongue swiped across his bottom lip as he inhaled sharply.

Okay, _now_ it was a moment.

.

.

.

Or it was until Jon came through the door and the two of them practically jumped away from each other like they had been electrocute. But it was a few seconds too late.

"Don't stop on my account" drawled Jon.

He didn't sound drunk.

Chris wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing in the current situation.

"Just make sure you still have your wallet in the morning Lopez."

That did it.

After all the jabs from him over the past few weeks, after all the shit that the events of the evening had brought up, that. did. it.

Chris got to her feet, span round to face Jon and snarled

"You know what fuck you Jon!"

"Nah I'll pass. You've fucked me over one time to many."

"You wanna do this now?!" Chris said, nostrils flared in anger and agitation.

Jon shrugged.

"Fine!" Chris said marching round the couch so they were stood opposite each other.

"Let's talk _Jonny."_

* * *

 **Ta da.**

 **Looks like secrets are about to be spilled.**

 **Let me know what you think :) love hearing from people!**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


End file.
